Arrest made in fatal shooting of DPW worker

San Francisco police have arrested a suspect in Wednesday’s fatal shooting of a Department of Public Works employee in the Mission District.

Michael Higginbotham, 26, was arrested in Vallejo on Wednesday evening on suspicion of murder in connection with the shooting earlier that day of 27-year-old Jermaine Jackson Jr., according to police.

Jackson was working in the area of 25th and Vermont streets, not far from San Francisco General Hospital, when he was shot around 8 a.m., police said.

He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

DPW director Mohammed Nuru said Jackson, the father of two young children, was working with a crew removing graffiti at the time of the shooting, which he called a “tragic incident.”

A laborer apprentice with the department since March 2015, Jackson was expected to graduate from that program next year. He had previously participated in the city’s Interrupt, Predict, Organize anti-violence program and had earned his GED while in it, Nuru said.

Nuru described Jackson as a “motivated, hard-working and well-liked employee.”

Police are asking anyone with information to call (415) 575-4444 or to send a tip by text message to TIP411 with “SFPD” at the start of the message.